Treading Water at the Shark Café: A Memoir of the Yugoslav Wars

Heartbreak and hope, a Quaker mom's mission of peace in war-torn Yugoslavia.

Treading Water at the Shark Café is an American Quaker woman’s extraordinary journey of witness and discovery from her suburban Philadelphia home to the war zones of the former Yugoslavia. Set against a background of violence, her story focuses on young people—often forgotten in times of war—who lived outside the spotlight.

Like the Freedom Riders and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the United States, the student activists in the former Yugoslavia envisioned a better world, taking incredible risks to make their dreams come true. Optimism, energy, and imagination conjure new possibilities, even in the midst of chaos. Told with honesty and deep conviction, this memoir will resonate with a growing audience of readers who are tired of political warmongering and share a longing for effective nonviolent alternatives.